Fusion 360 – Replace Components

If you are a long time user of 3D parametric CAD software and have designed assemblies which need standard nuts, bolts an washers you will most proably have come across a situation where the holes in the parts that are being held in place need to get either bigger or smaller depending on the results of the analysis you might have performed, If you find that the bolts might shear because of forces being asserted on the parts, the bolts will need to get bigger as well the holes.

If you have inserted few bolted connections you certainly do not want to have to delete each one and then replace it one by one. Inventor does this with ease but until recently Fusion 360 was not able to do it but it is capable of it now but there is a trick.

The trick is that the component needs to be an external part. For example if you bring in a McMaster-Carr component it is referenced as an internal part. This part is not able to be replaced. The workflow for replacing these components would be to go to the McMaster-Carr website and download all the components you would need for your design. Once this is done you can upload to the folder of your choice and then insert and joint the component to your designed part.

What I have discovered with this process is that when you replace the McMaster part with another, the joints will not be the same and you will need to edit the joint as it is not able to find the exact positions of the joint that you selected.

If you download a McMaster part and then make a copy of it and then change the sizes, replacing the original part with the copy you made works with the joint as well.

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